Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia Neva River Neva River The Neva River is an essential part of St. Petersburg's charm. Many generations of locals and visitors to the city have been completely enraptured by long, evening walks along the banks of the Neva during the city's famous White Nights . Very few things can be more romantic than strolling along the Neva's granite-clad embankments and admiring the city's open bridges , the marvelous architecture and the large ships as they pass by. Neva River Since the foundation of the city, the Neva was intended to be the "main street of the city". Throughout most of the 18th century there were no bridges across the river and people were ferried from one bank to the other, just the way Peter the Great intended when he founded his "Venice of the North". The Neva River is only 46 miles long and flows from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Before joining the Baltic, the Neva splits into several branches forming a delta, where downtown St. Petersburg is located.

On average the river is 1300-2000 feet wide, but near the Peter and Paul fortress and the Hermitage it exceeds 2600 feet. The river is covered with ice between mid-December and early April and during this period ships are unable to navigate the river. But, whatever the season, the Neva River is a wonderful accompaniment to the architectural splendor of the Winter Palace and Hermitage , the Admiralty , the Peter and Paul fortress , the Summer Gardens and the major landmarks that stand on its banks. MEMBER SERVICES St. Petersburg | Russia | Britannica.com St. Petersburg Alternative Titles: Leningrad, Petrograd, Sankt-Peterburg Related Topics Peter I St. Petersburg, Russian Sankt Peterburg, formerly (1914–24) Petrograd and (1924–91) Leningrad, city and port, extreme northwestern Russia . A major historical and cultural centre and an important port, St. Petersburg lies about 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Moscow and only about 7° south of the Arctic Circle .

It is the second largest city of Russia and one of the world’s major cities. St. Petersburg has played a vital role in Russian history since its founding in 1703. For two centuries (1712–1918) it was the capital of the Russian Empire. The city is remembered as the scene of the February (March, New Style) and October (November, New Style) Revolutions of 1917 and for its fierce defense while besieged during World War II. Architecturally, it ranks as one of the most splendid and congenial cities of Europe . Its historic district was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990. Area city, 550 square miles (1,400 square km). Pop. (2010) 4,879,566; (2012 est.) 4,953,219. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Time-lapse video of St. Petersburg. Geoff Tompkinson/GTImage.com; original music by Vincent Jacq (A Britannica Publishing Partner) St. Petersburg.

© Mikhail Khromov/Shutterstock.com Character of the city St. Petersburg is a mecca of cultural, historical, and architectural landmarks. Founded by Tsar Peter I (the Great) as Russia’s “window on Europe,” it bears the unofficial status of Russia’s cultural capital and most European city, a distinction that it strives to retain in its perennial competition with Moscow. Three distinctive characteristics of St. Petersburg engage attention. The first is the city’s harmonious mix of western European and Russian architecture . Second is St. Petersburg’s lack of an unequivocal city centre, which, in other Russian cities of medieval origin, is defined by a kremlin and its surrounding area. The third characteristic feature of the city is its many waterways. The short but full-flowing tributaries and canals of the Neva River that stretch to the Baltic coast are inseparable from St. Petersburg’s panorama. Many of the city’s most famed architectural sites stretch along the Neva’s historic embankments. Moreover, the bridges and natural canals of the river have earned St. Petersburg the nickname “Venice of the North.” Because of St.

Petersburg’s northerly location, the city enjoys the “White Nights,” from June 11 to July 2, when daylight extends to nearly 19 hours—another of St. Petersburg’s most acclaimed characteristics. Among the cultural events devoted to celebrating the White Nights are the festivals organized by the Mariinsky and Hermitage theatres and the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Each night during the White Nights, the bridges spanning the Neva are raised to let boat traffic through. After the collapse of the Soviet Union , St. Petersburg imbibed a new energy as crumbling facades, potholed roads, and cultural landmarks were renovated. Chesmenn Church, St. Petersburg. Kazan City site St. Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River , at the head of the Gulf of Finland . The city spreads across 42 islands of the delta and across adjacent parts of the mainland floodplain . The very low and originally marshy site has subjected the city to recurrent flooding, especially in the autumn, when strong cyclonic winds drive gulf waters upstream, and also at the time of the spring thaw.

Exceptionally severe inundations occurred in 1777, 1824, and 1924; the last two were the highest on record and flooded most of the city. To control the destructive floodwaters, the city built in the 1980s an 18-mile- (29-km-) long dike across the Gulf of Finland. A number of canals also have been cut to assist drainage. Ovechkin or Putin? Greater St. Petersburg—the city itself with its satellite towns— forms a horseshoe shape around the head of the Gulf of Finland and includes the island of Kotlin in the gulf. On the north it stretches westward along the shore for nearly 50 miles (80 km) to include Zelenogorsk. This northern extension is an area of dormitory towns, resorts, sanatoriums, and children’s camps set among extensive coniferous forests and fringed by fine beaches and sand dunes. Some upper-class St. Petersburg residents also have summer cottages, or dachas, in this area. On the southern side of the gulf, the metropolitan limits extend westward to include Peterhof and Lomonosov .

Eastward, Greater St. Petersburg stretches up the Neva River to Ivanovskoye. Climate Obama Acts to Protect the Arctic The mitigating effect of the Atlantic Ocean provides St. Petersburg with a milder climate than might be expected for its far northern site. Nevertheless, winters are rather cold, with a mean January temperature of about 21 °F (−6 °C), a few degrees warmer than that for Moscow. Winter temperatures can drop below −40 °F (−40 °C), however. Snow cover lasts on the average about 132 days. The Neva begins to freeze normally about mid-November, and the ice is solid by the start of December; breakup begins in mid-April and usually is completed by the end of the month. Icebreakers prolong the navigation season. Summers are moderately warm, with an average temperature of 65 °F (18 °C) in July. Mean annual precipitation amounts to about 25 inches (634 mm), with the summer being the wettest period. City layout In lieu of a distinctive city centre on the standard Russian medieval model, much of St.

Petersburg’s main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospekt (avenue), particularly the stretch running from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Terminal, is considered the city’s centre. Central St. Petersburg is divided into four sections by the Neva River and its distributaries. The Admiralty Side lies along the left (south) bank of the Neva itself, at this point called the Bolshaya (Great) Neva. Between the Bolshaya Neva and the river’s other main arm, the Malaya (Little) Neva, is Vasilyevsky Island. The Malaya Neva and the river’s extreme right (north) distributary, the Bolshaya Nevka, enclose a group of islands known as the Petrograd Side, while east of the Bolshaya Nevka and north of the Neva proper lies the Vyborg Side. Admiralty Side Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Much of St. Petersburg’s historical and cultural heritage is concentrated on the Admiralty Side. The district centres on the Admiralty. This, the nucleus of Peter’s original city, was reconstructed in 1806–23 by Andreyan D.

Zakharov as a development of the earlier building of Ivan K. Korobov, which itself had been remodeled in 1727–38 but retained the layout of the original. Its elegant spire, topped by a weather vane in the form of a ship, is one of the principal landmarks of the city. The building today houses a naval college. Admiralty Tower, St. Petersburg. Golden spire of the Admiralty in St. Petersburg. © Mikhail Khromov/Shutterstock.com Just to the east lies the great Palace Square, the city’s oldest. The 600-ton granite monolith of the Alexander Column (1830–34), the tallest of its kind in the world and so finely set that its base is not fastened, thrusts up for 165 feet (50 metres) near the centre of the square. Pedestal of the Alexander Column in Palace Square, St. Petersburg.

© Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Winter Palace (left) and the New Hermitage (right; both parts of the Hermitage museum), with the … Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Between the square and the river rises the huge and massive rectangle of the Winter Palace , the former principal residence of the tsars . The present structure, the fifth to be built, was the Baroque masterpiece of Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli . Construction of it began in 1754 and was completed in 1762. Both the exterior and the interior of the palace were designed in dazzlingly luxurious style. In 1837 the building was destroyed by fire, and only the adjoining Hermitage survived; the Winter Palace was recreated in 1839 almost exactly according to Rastrelli’s plans. The striking appearance of the palace is highlighted by white columns against a green background, with golden stucco moldings; 176 sculptured figures line the roof.

The whole complex, now called the Hermitage , or State Hermitage Museum, is a treasury of mostly western European painting and sculpture, an art collection of worldwide significance that originated in 1764 as the private holdings of Tsarina Catherine II . Overview of the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Hermitage museum complex on the Neva River, St. Petersburg. Shown from left to right are: the … © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) The Winter Palace (left) and the New Hermitage (right), parts of the Hermitage museum, St. … © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Opposite the Winter Palace, the great crescent of Karl Ivanovich Rossi’s General Staff building (1811–29) dominates the square.

The two wings of the building are joined by a huge triumphal arch topped by heroic figures and crowned by a chariot carrying a figure representing Glory, expressing the Russian victory against the invading army of Napoleon I in the campaign of 1812 (see French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars ). On the western (downstream) side of the Admiralty stretches the expanse that was called Senate Square when the Senate moved there in 1763; it is now called Decembrist s’ (or Dekabristovs’) Square in commemoration of the revolt in 1825. The buildings of the former Senate and Synod (now housing archives) dominate the western side of the square, their decorated facades dating from the 1830s and representing the last great work of Rossi. They are separated by an arch looking across to the centre of the square, where stands the equestrian statue of Peter, known as the Bronze Horseman, created in 1782 by Étienne Falconet .

Near the Senate and Synod buildings to the south rises the Neoclassical front of the Horse Guards Riding School, or Manezh (1804–07); beyond, dominating the south side of St. Isaac’s Square, is the cathedral of the same name. An outstanding monument of late Neoclassical Russian architecture built by Auguste Montferrand (1818–58), St. Isaac’s is one of the largest domed buildings in the world; its golden cupola, gilded with about 220 pounds (100 kg) of pure gold, soars to 331 feet (101 metres) in height and is visible all over St. Petersburg. It is now a museum. St. Isaac’s Cathedral, St. Petersburg. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) The Bronze Horseman, monument to Peter the Great, St. Petersburg. © Dmitry Nikolaev/Shutterstock.com Ottoman Empire From the Admiralty and its surrounding squares radiate three great avenues, of which the most important and best known is the Nevsky.

One of the world’s great thoroughfares, Nevsky Prospekt cuts southeastward across the peninsula formed by the northward loop of the Neva to the vicinity of the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, crossing the smaller Moyka and Fontanka rivers. The Anichkov Bridge across the latter is graced by four sculptured horses. The street has a special beauty: the architecture is majestic, the buildings are graceful and finely proportioned, and the construction is complex. On Nevsky Prospekt stand the Stroganov, Shuvalov, and Anichkov palaces (former private residences of the nobility) and several churches, of which the most prominent are St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (1833–38), St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic Church (1763–83), and the Kazan Cathedral (1801–11). The last edifice, undoubtedly the street’s finest feature, was designed by Andrey Voronikhin in Russian Neoclassical style and has an interior rich in sculptures and paintings. A magnificent semicircular Corinthian colonnade dominates its exterior.

Another interesting building is the department store Gostiny Dvor (1761–85), originally designed by Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe. This building forms an irregular square and opens onto four streets; formerly it was a mercantile centre. Other department stores line Nevsky Prospekt, as do many restaurants, cafés, and theatres—most notably the Pushkin Academic Drama Theatre. Kazan Cathedral, with a colonnade of 96 Corinthian columns arranged in four rows, forms an extended … Demetrio Carrasco—Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (commonly known as Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood) … Geoff Tompkinson/GTImage.com (A Britannica Publishing Partner) At the eastern end of Nevsky Prospekt, Alexander Nevsky Square fronts the main entrance to the abbey of the same name and its surrounding gardens. Beyond the square’s main entrance lie, on the left and right, respectively, monuments and sculptures of the 18th-century Lazarus Cemetery (where Mikhail V.

Lomonosov and many of the city’s architects are buried) and the 19th-century Tikhvin Cemetery (containing the graves of such writers and composers as Fyodor Dostoyevsky , Modest Mussorgsky , and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ). Behind the cemeteries rise the spires and cupolas of the Church of the Annunciation (1720, designed by Domenico Trezzini), which is now a museum, and Holy Trinity Cathedral (1778–90, designed by Ivan Starov). Through the Admiralty Side and intersecting the radial avenues cut the natural channels and canals that so distinguish the city. The most important, in outward order from the Admiralty, are the Moyka and Fontanka rivers and the Griboyedov and Obvodny canals. Downstream from the northern entrance of the Fontanka into the Neva lies the Field of Mars , one of the city’s beautiful open spaces. Begun under Peter (when it was known as the Field of Amusement), it was intended for popular festivities and fireworks.

It was a favourite haunt of the 18th-century nobility, but its present name derives from a monument erected in 1801, which portrays the great Russian military leader Aleksandr V. Suvorov (buried in the Church of the Annunciation) as the god of war . In the 19th century the space was used for military parades and exercises. The fallen of the February Revolution of 1917 and the defenders of the city during the civil war and foreign military intervention (1918–20) were buried there. They are commemorated by an eternal flame. Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (commonly known as Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood), … © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) At the extreme eastern side of the central city, within the sharp bend of the Neva itself, lies the Smolny complex of buildings; these include a former convent, with the five-domed cathedral, designed by Rastrelli and begun in 1748, and the Neoclassical building of the Smolny Institute, constructed by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1806–08.

The institute was used as Vladimir Ilich Lenin ’s headquarters in 1917 and is home to the city government. Smolny Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russia. K. Scholz/H. Armstrong Roberts, Inc. Just to the east lies the Summer Garden. Founded on an island in 1704, it has parks and gardens that by the end of the 18th century contained more than 250 statues and busts, mostly the work of Venetian masters. The Summer Palace , Peter’s first building project in the city, erected 1710–14 in early Russian Baroque style and designed by Trezzini, stands in the northeastern portion of the garden. The Neva embankment is fronted by a fence (1784), the iron grille of which is reputed to be among the world’s finest examples of wrought-iron work. So light and delicate is its design that the grillwork almost seems to be suspended in air. Vasilyevsky Island One of the first areas of St. Petersburg to be developed because of its defendable position, Vasilyevsky Island forms the northwestern corner of the central city.

Opposite the Admiralty and Winter Palace, at the island’s eastern tip, is the remarkable architectural complex known as the Strelka (“Pointer”), facing the bifurcation of the Neva. Behind the two great Rostral Columns, decorated by carved ships’ prows, and across Pushkin Square, the point rises majestically to the former Exchange building (Thomas de Thomon, 1805–10), the city’s finest example of early 19th-century style and reminiscent of a Classical Greek temple in appearance; it now houses the Central Naval Museum. St. Isaac’s Cathedral (left), one of the Rostral Columns (centre), and the Stock Exchange building … © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Farther back, the Twelve Colleges building (Trezzini, 1722–42), originally intended to house the supreme governmental bodies of Peter, is now the home of the city’s state university.

The building is divided into 12 identical but independent sections and runs at right angles to the Neva embankment, which is fronted at that point by the facades of the main building of the Academy of Sciences, the Menshikov Palace, and the Academy of Arts. On the far, or northern, side of the Exchange is the Naval Customs House—now known as Pushkin House (Institute of Russian Literature)—designed by Giovanni Luchini (1829–32). The Erarta Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art on the western edge of Vasilyevsky Island opened in 2010. With more than 2,000 works by some 140 artists, it is Russia ’s largest private museum of contemporary art. On the opposite side of the island, Novy Muzei (“New Museum”) focuses on contemporary works from the second half of the 20th century. Petrograd Side Upstream of the bifurcation of the Neva is the Petrograd Side, where the great Peter-Paul Fortress faces the Strelka across the Malaya Neva.

Founded in 1703, this fortification, the city’s first structure, initially had earthen walls, but these were soon replaced by stone walls 40 feet (12 metres) high and 12 feet (4 metres) thick, with 300 cannons mounted on the bastions . Above the squat horizontal lines of the fortress’s massive walls soars the slender, arrowlike spire of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, a golden landmark for the city. The cathedral was built in 1712–33 by Trezzini, and the tsars and tsarinas of Russia from the time of Peter (except for Peter II and Nicholas II) are buried in it. Trezzini also designed St. Peter’s (Petrovsky) Gate (1718) as the eastern entrance to the fortress. The Neva Gate, designed by Nikolay A. Lvov, dates from 1787. From the early 19th century the fortress was used as a prison, chiefly for political prisoners. Today it is a museum. At noon each day a cannon is fired from its battlements. Cathedral of St. Peter and St.

Paul, St. Petersburg. © Ferenz/Shutterstock.com Inside the Peter-Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg. © Dainis Derics/Shutterstock.com Chapel of St. Catherine in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Petersburg. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul with the walls of the Peter-Paul Fortress in the foreground, … © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Just to the east of the Peter-Paul Fortress, where the Bolshaya Nevka River begins, the cruiser Aurora is permanently moored as a museum and training vessel for the Naval College. It was the Aurora that in 1917 fired the blank shot that served as the signal to storm the Winter Palace during the October Revolution . The bow of the cruiser Aurora, anchored in the Bolshaya Nevka River, and (centre) the … © Wolfgang Kaehler The Russian cruiser Aurora moored on the Bolshaya Nevka River, St. Petersburg.

© Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Vyborg Side The northeastern part of the central city had by the late 19th century developed into an industrial appendage, but by the end of the 20th century most of its industry had been replaced by office and apartment buildings and retail establishments. One of its most famous features is the Finland Railway Station, which faces the Admiralty Side across the Neva. Lenin returned to Russia in April 1917 via this station, and there he made his initial pronouncement of a new course that would bring the Bolsheviks to power. A major street of the Vyborg Side is Bolshoi Sampsonievski Prospekt, along which stand such buildings as the Cathedral of St. Sampson. Vyborg, on the Gulf of Finland, Leningrad oblast, Russia. Sovfoto/TASS Outer region St. Petersburg extends well to the north and south of the original delta site, with arms of growth extending westward along the banks of the Gulf of Finland. The newer outer suburbs include extensive open areas, and parts of the periphery are designated as greenbelt.

Alongside the city’s satellite towns, large-scale commercial agriculture and “agro-recreational” plots owned by residents of St. Petersburg (dachas, collective orchards, and vegetable gardens) extend 12 to 50 miles (20 to 80 km) from the city centre. However, the multiplicity of large housing blocks containing numerous two- or three-room apartments means that population densities in the built-up areas remain high. As in virtually all modern cities, commuting over long distances is the price paid for more living space and the cleaner air of the suburbs. Among the suburbs noteworthy for their historical and cultural value are Peterhof , Pushkin , Pavlovsk , and Gatchina . Peterhof The most famous of the communities around St. Petersburg is Peterhof, whose unique garden-park setting, stretching in terraces rising above the Gulf of Finland, contains representative works from two centuries of Russian architectural and park styles. The Great Palace , the former residence of Peter I, stands at the edge of the second terrace, its bright yellow walls contrasting with white stucco decorations and the gilt domes of its lateral wings.

Built in the Baroque style (1714–28), it was reconstructed and expanded by Rastrelli from the mid-1740s to the mid-1750s. On the north the building commands a view of the Grand Cascade, a grandiose structure including a grotto, 64 fountains, and two cascading staircases, which lead to an enormous semicircular basin that contains a giant statue of Samson wrestling with a lion. This statue, symbolizing the military glory of Russia, is a copy of the original statue by Mikhail I. Kozlovsky , which was carried off by the Nazis during World War II . In fact, much of the town’s treasure was plundered and many of its buildings were destroyed during the siege of Leningrad . After the siege was lifted, the city was given a more Russian-sounding name, Petrodvorets, which was its official name from 1944 until it was renamed Peterhof in 2009. This magnificent vista becomes all the more remarkable when it is remembered that much of it is a post-World War II restoration. The Great Palace, Petrodvorets, St. Petersburg.

© Kokhanchikov/Shutterstock.com Neva River | Article about Neva River by The Free Dictionary Neva River | Article about Neva River by The Free Dictionary Related to Neva River: Lake Ladoga Neva (nē`və, Rus. nyĭvä`), river, 46 mi (74 km) long, NW European Russia, connecting Lake Ladoga with the Gulf of Finland, an inlet of the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg is situated in its delta. The Neva is connected by canal systems with the Volga River and with the White Sea. Neva a river in Leningrad Oblast, RSFSR. It is 74 km long and drains a total area (including the basins of Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega) of 281,000 sq km, draining 5,000 sq km for the Neva basin alone. The Neva flows out of the Petrokrepost’ (Shlissel’burg) Inlet of Lake Ladoga and flows into the Neva Inlet of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.

In its lower course, the river divides into branches (the principal ones are the Bol’shaia Neva and Malaia Neva and the Bol’shaia Nevka and Malaia Nevka), which form a broad delta, on whose islands and on the Neva depression the city of Leningrad is located. The mean flow rate at the river’s source (the city of Petrokrepost’) is 2,480 cu m per sec (maximum 4,590 cu m per sec, minimum 2,050 cu m per sec); the mean flow rate at the river’s mouth is 2,530 cu m per sec. Southwest and westerly winds cause high tides in the Gulf of Finland and the lower course of the Neva; flooding sometimes occurs in Leningrad. Catastrophic floods, rising approximately 4 m above the usual water level, occurred in 1824 (described by A. S. Pushkin in The Bronze Horseman) and 1924. The upper course of the Neva is characterized by heavy formation of ice in the water, which causes congestion.

The river freezes in December and thaws between the end of April and the beginning of May. The second flow of ice from Lake Ladoga occurs 10–15 days after the flow of ice from the Neva. The Okhta River is the Neva’s right tributary; its left tributaries are the Izhora, Tosna, and Mga. The Neva is part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway. REFERENCE Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia NEVA RIVER The Neva River is an essential part of St. Petersburg's world-famous charm. Many generations of locals and visitors to the city have been completely enraptured by all-night walks along the Neva during the so-called White Nights . Very few things can be more romantic than strolling along the Neva's granite-clad embankments and admiring open bridges , marvelous architecture and ships passing by. Since the very first days of the city the Neva was meant to be the "main street of the city".

Throughout most of the 18th century there were no bridges across the river and people were ferried from one bank to the other, just the way Peter the Great intended when he founded his "Venice of the North" and "Paradise". The Neva river is only 46 1/4 miles long, flowing from the Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Before joining the Baltic, the Neva splits into several branches forming a delta, where downtown St. Petersburg is located. On average the river is 1300-2000 feet wide, but near the Peter and Paul fortress and the Hermitage it exceeds 2600 feet. The river is covered with ice between mid-December and the first quarter of April and during this period there's no navigation on the river. But, whatever the season, the Neva River brings extra beauty to the Winter Palace and Hermitage , the Admiralty , the Peter and Paul fortress , the Summer Gardens and other major landmarks that stand on its banks...

Press your browser's BACK button to return River Neva - definition of River Neva by The Free Dictionary River Neva - definition of River Neva by The Free Dictionary Related to River Neva: Bolshaya Nevka Ne·va (nē′və, nyĭ-vä′) A river of northwest Russia flowing about 74 km (46 mi) from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland at Saint Petersburg. Neva (ˈniːvə; Russian nɪˈva) n (Placename) a river in NW Russia, flowing west to the Gulf of Finland by the delta on which Saint Petersburg stands. Length: 74 km (46 miles) Ne•va (ˈni və; Russ. nyɪˈvɑ) n. a river in the NW Russian Federation in Europe, flowing through St. Petersburg into the Gulf of Finland. 40 mi. (65 km) long. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Russian Federation , Russia - a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia; formerly Soviet Russia; since 1991 an independent state Translations Want to thank TFD for its existence?

Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: void References in periodicals archive ? Once again, Braemar sailed up the River Neva until we were within walking distance of the Hermitage, mooring alongside an old Soviet-era submarine, now a museum. Friday/5 And as we're driven from the port along the impressive River Neva, which is criss-crossed with the equally impressive bridges which make up the city, to our first stop, our guide Natalia explains how St Petersburg went on to earn its latest moniker - the city of three names.

Tsar trek sar sar trek sar trek sar trek; With Russia and Europe seeming to grow further apart every day, WESLEY JOHNSON seizes his opportunity to visit St Petersburg - a 3,400-mile voyage of discovery which runs through the heart of the city, is dominated by the Hermitage Museum in much the same way as the majestic Louvre looms over the and the bank of the River Neva, which runs through the heart of the city, is dominated by the Hermitage Museum in much the same way as the majestic Louvre looms over the Seine in Paris. When ballet beckons St Petersburg was founded three centuries ago on the banks of the River Neva at the eastern end of the Baltic Sea to give Muscovy a 'window towards Europe', but there is nowhere in the West quite like it.

Architecture: city under siege: despite local opposition and international criticism, St Petersburg is being spoiled by developers in the name of modernisation Feet firmly back on the ground at the final port after a parade of sail up the River Neva into the historic Russian city, the winning skipper Torben Grael reflected on the joy and sadness of completing the nine month epic: "It's a funny feeling because some of these guys you had never met before and you become like brothers. Peter I and the Neva river delta Let the Finnish waves forget Their enmity and ancient bondage And not unleash their bootless anger To trouble Peters eternal rest. - Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman" When Peter the Great founded the city of St. Petersburg on the Neva River delta in 1703, he was deliberately defying nature. It took heroic efforts to drain the land and shore it up to support large structures; frequent floods brought destruction and disease; most materials for construction, as well as food supplies, had to be imported from elsewhere in Russia. Nevertheless, Peter insisted on creating on this shifting, irregular landscape his ideal city of perfect proportions and straight lines. The Neva River is short but very powerful.

As the only outlet from Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe, it carries an enormous mass of water along its 74 km., discharging it into the Gulf of Finland. In width the river varies greatly: just within the city limits of Petersburg it varies from about 800m before the great bend in the river to about 350m just after the bend and further along, near the Bronze Horseman statue. In most places the Neva does not have steep banks; the waters lap the shores. Flooding is very frequent in the delta, usually caused by large waves from tornado action on the Baltic Sea. Old maps and accounts of the Neva delta depict a swampy lowland with relatively poor soil. It was not, however, uninhabited: there were many settlements and fortifications in what was known to Slavs as Izhorsk and to Swedish settlers as Ingermanland. It had been part of the princedom of Novgorod since before the twelfth century, and artifacts from the eighth century have been found there. When the area was under Swedish control in the 17th century, there were several settlements slightly upriver, in what is now eastern St.

Petersburg, and some large estates lower down the Neva, near the Fontanka River (Sementsov 134-5). Trade routes from Ingermanland reached as far as Amsterdam in the west and Constantinople in the south. In spite of its swampy quality, most of the land on which St. Petersburg now stands was under cultivation prior to the founding of the city in 1703, though it held few permanent structures in the low-lying areas (Pyliaev 12). Peter's vision of a grand panorama along the riverfront was quickly realized, though the tsar did not succeed in his plan for making Vasilevsky Island look like Amsterdam. By the mid-1720s the grand buildings along the riverfront created a unified architectural ensemble. It contrasted sharply to traditional Russian urban forms, as well as to the meandering settlements in parts of Petersburg that were away from the water. Older Russian cities tended to follow the natural land forms and to face inward, shutting out the broad expanses all around, while this new city disregarded the lay of the land, looked outward, and celebrated space (Ageeva 176-7).

The gigantic aquatic square in a foreign architectural frame looked miraculous, especially in the middle of a city full of log cabins, kitchen gardens, cowsheds, and clutchy mud (Kaganov 4). The eventual straightening of the citys streets to conform to the tsars ideal of a regular city came at a high cost. People were summarily expelled from their homes if they interfered with the urban plan; recalcitrant families would find the roof removed from over their heads. There were fines to be paid for failing to pave the streets or to plant the regulation number of trees outside ones home ( Ageeva 120). Environmentally, the cost was also high. Tens of thousands of oak pilings were imported into the city from forests to the southeast, for purposes of shoring up the swampy land. Huge effort went into straightening and reinforcing the Neva embankments . Canals were built to drain the wetlands, with stone imported from islands in the Gulf of Finland. There were many more canals then than there are now (see map), each representing a huge investment in manpower and resources.

And even so, frequent flooding claimed many lives, both violently during flooding and gradually through contamination of the water supply. Though Ageeva shows that the famous legends of Petersburg as a city built on bones were exaggerated, the wholesale transformation of the Neva delta ecosystem has been very costly indeed. Further topics and interdisciplinary essays

Question: The Russian city of St Petersburg stands on the River Neva, which runs into which gulf?
Answer: Gulf of Finland